Tip 931: How to Create a Rule for All Email Except from One Sender

A user asked if it was possible to create a create a rule that would apply to all mail *not* from a particular user.

Yes, there are two ways you can do this.

The first: Create the rule and add an exception. The rule will read 'for all mail, do whatever, except if from UserA'

The Second method: Use 2 rules. The first rule will be 'from UserA, stop processing more rules'.

You'll need a second rule to 'do whatever' to all the other messages.

Is there an advantage to using one method over the other? If you use Exchange server mailbox, one rule is more compact, which is useful if you have a lot of rules and are near the server limit for rules. If you use other types of account, it matters less as you won't have a limit on the size and number of rules. The two rule method is necessary if you want to do something with the messages from UserA.

Published November 10, 2011. Last updated on September 6, 2013.

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